Incubating apparatus



July 3, 1928. 1,675,895

J. H. LORD INCUBATING APPARATUS File June 28, 1925 ZSfieets-Sheet x Jul 3; 1928. 1,675,895

J. H. LORD INCUBATING APPARATUS Filed. June 28,1923 2 Sheets-Sheet W 0P3 y 3% Patented July 3, 1928.

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. LORD, OF METHUEN, MASSACHUSETTS.

INCUBATING APPARATUS.

Application filed June 28,

The present invention relates to the artificial. incubation of eggs. Among the objects which I have sought and accomplished by this invention are, to maintain a more uniform temperature in the eggs in process of incubation, to control more easily and conveniently the temperature of the 1ncu bator and more readily vary that temperature as required in the various stages of incubation. to accomplish the foregoing without at the same time giving rise to liability of too greatly drying: the eggs, and to enable the eggs to be more easily moved and shifted from time to time in a manner intended to prevent the developing chick from growing fast to the shell.

The manner in which these objects are accomplished. and the principal steps and means in which the invention consists are explained in the following specification with reference to the drawings which form a part thereof.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is an end view, with the enclosing walls partly broken away, of an incubator embodying this invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the same represented in a similar manner.

Figure 3 is an elevation in detail, with parts broken away, of an egg carrier which forms one of the elements of the invention.

Figure tis an end view of the same represented in a similar manner.

Figuresfi, 6 and 7 are, respectively, an end elevation, a side elevation and a plan view of a form of clamp which I have devised for connecting the before-mentioned egg: carrier with conveyor cables.

Like reference characters designate the same parts in all the figures wherever they occur.

The invention consists in a new appara tus which have devised for subiecting the eggs in course of incubation to the proper temperature and so moving them as to prevent attachment of the chick to the shell. I will first, describe the principles of the apparatus and the preferred forms of certain of its elements, and then explain the manner of its operation and the improved results obtained thereby.

1923. Serial No. 648,204.

In Figures 1 and 2 the structure designated generally by the numeral 10 represents any incubator structure or enclosure, which may be an entire room of a building, or an incubator box of any desired dimensions. Means for heating the enclosure are conventionally indicated as a coil of pipes 11 adapted to contain a heated fluid of any desired temperature, but this showing is illustrative merely and is intended to typify any operative means which might be used for the purpose. For instance, instead of a coil or radiator thus arranged, I might locate a radiator elsewhere in the enclosure, or employ an electric heater of any suitable character at any suitable location in the enclosure. or admit previously warmed air as the heatingagent.

It is within my contemplation, also, to provide automatic regnlating'means, con trolled by the temperature in the incubator, to govern the temperature of the heating means or agent therein. Thus the coil 11 typifies generically heating means of any sort which is susceptible of automatic or other regulation to maintain a desired temperature in any desired part of the incubator.

The in course of incubation are placed in carriers 12 which are moved up and down in the incubator between different levels thereof. I prefer to employ as means for so moving them conveyor cables or chains 13. or equivalent elements, arranged in parallel planes and passing around pulleys 141- and 15. to which cables or the like the opposite ends of the carriers are secured. I prefer also to attach to the cables as many carriers as canbe accommodated on them and between the floor and roof of the incubator chamber. Such conveyer cables are moved. continuously. or intermittently at suitable intervals. but preferably continuously at a slow rate of speed, and an operative automatic means for so moving them shown in the drawings as consisting of an electric motor 16 mounted externally of the casing and geared to the shaft of the pulleys 14 by worm and wheel gearing 17, 18. It will be understood that in the unit now being described there are two upper pulleys 14 secured to the same shaft 19, to

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which also the worn wheel 18 is secured, and two lower pulleys 1.5 which may be on the same shaft or axle, or may be mounted independently of one another. Each conveyer cable passes around one of the upper and lower pulleys.

The worm and wheel gearing here shown is typical of any operative means for tran mitting motion from a rapidly rotating prime mover to a slowly rotating conveyer driver, and causing the conveyer to travel at the desired slow rate of speed. Considerable variation in the exact rate of this motion is possible and the practical limits of such variation are stated in the following explanation of the method carried out by the use of this apparatus.

A preferred construction of egg carrier is shown in detail in Figures 3 and 4. It is of open box or crate formation consisting of two end plates 20, 21 and cross-bars 22 and 23 secured to said plates at top and bot tom. These plates and bars may be made from woodenboards or from any other material. To the inner surfaces of the end plates are secured horizontal cleats or equivalent supporting guides or ledges 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28, on which are supported the trays 29, 30, 31 and 32 in which the eggs are contained. The trays which I prefer to use are of the sort now commonly used in commercial incubator practice consisting of a rectangular open frame of slats or laths, and a wire screen bottom 33. The hei'gl'it of the frame is about equal to half the width of an egg at the larger end, whence an inverted tray placed over one filled with will hold the eggs in place when the whole assemblage is overturned and will, in the new vosition, serve, in its turn, to support the eggs The distance between each two adjacent cleats is sulficient to receive a pair of trays thus assembled, enabling them to be slid in or out in the manner of a drawer, as shown in the draungs. Furthermore, the thickness or disposition of the cleats or brackets is such tl at the vertical distance from the bottom of each upright tray to the bottom of the next similarly arranged tray above it is high enough for the chicks to stand and move about after hatching.

The opposite sides of the container are open, permitting the trays to be slipped in or out from either side, and have detachable covers or doors, each consisting of a'frame 34: covered with a wire screen 35. The ends of these screen doors or covers confined between the end plates, and their upper and lower corners are confined between the extended ends of the bottom and top cleatsQ l and 28, as shown in i gure and when in place they are secured by turn-buttons 36 or equivalent latches.

A red or shaft 37 is passed centrally through the carrier and its ends emerge from the end plates thereof, being held in bearings or bushings 38 therein. Each end of such rod is held rotatably, if desired, in a coupling or clamp 39, shown in detail in Figures and 6. Such coupling or clamp is made in two parts, with a lug 40 to grip the conveyor cable 13 and a lug 41 having a socket 42 to receive one end of the rod 37. The two parts of the clamp are secured togetliier and caused to grip the cable by bolts 43.

The particular clamp thus described is illustrative and is to be considered as typifying any clamp which might be used for the purpose. The essential fact is that by means of the rod and clamp, or the equivrlents thereof, the carrier is supported by the conveyor cables in a manner which per mits it to be rotated about a horizontal axis. When such rotation occurs, all the eggs are inverted at once, but they are prevented from falling out, or even rolling against one another so hard as to be cracked, by the supporting and covering trays and the close fit of each pair of trays so assembled between adjacent cleats.

A convenient means for holding the carrier upright with either side uppermost, after being thus rotated, is illustratively shown as consisting of a weight ll which is contained in a pocket l5 secured to the lower cross-bar 23 and is adapted to be placed in a similar pocket 16 secured to the opposite cross-bar. Such pockets are here shown built of wood or other suitable material in the form of shallow box open at one side, and they typify any means, however constructed, for detachably sus pending a weight from, or attaching it to, either side of the box which at any time is the bottom side.

The apparatus thus described is employed in the following manner: Eggs being placed in all or a part of the container trays and packed so that they will: not roll about when the trays are turned upside down, the con veyers are in motion and caused to move the carriers up and down and from side to side of the incubator enclosure with a slow motion. In this way the eggs are brought into different parts of the enclosure, that is, alternately to high and low levels therein and from nearest approach to greatest dis tance from the heating means. All of the eggs are equally so moved through parts of the incubator which may be at difierent temperatures. Thus all the eggs are maintained at the same temperature, which is the average temperature of the incubator.

In regulating the heating means it is only necessar Y to insure that the average temperature is at the required degree for incubation. It is not necessary that all the parts of the incubator should be kept at an exact temperature, or even within averynarrow range of temperature, for the parts nearest the heating means may be considerably above the proper incubating temperature,

while other parts are considerably below that temperature, provided only the average temperatureof the chamber is within the proper limits.

The rate of movement of the egg carriers is such that on the one hand the eggs will not remain in the Warmestparts of the inv cubator long enough to become overheated nor in the coolest parts long enough to be chilled, and that on the other hand the speed will not be great enough to give the effect of a draft of air blowing on the eggs. Too high or too low temperature endangers the life in the egg, while a draft of air tends to evaporate water from the contents of the egg, causing the chick to be weak or de formed. The correct speed maintains the temperature of the eggs within the proper limits and avoids evaporating their liquid contents.

From time to timethe egg carriers are turned upside down to invert the eggs, as is necessary to prevent the developing chick, which floats in the upper part of the egg, from adhering to the shell. This can easily be done, while the motion of the carrier continues, by an attendant who removes the weight from the under side of the carrier, rotates the carrier about its axis, and replaces the weight in the pocket on the side which has now come underneath. This can also be done by shifting the weight from the low side to the high side and then giving the carrier an initial turning impulse which is continued by the pull of the weight until the semi-rotation is completed.

At different stages of incubation the temperature in the-enclosure can be varied as required. and as now practiced; and shortly before the time for hatching arrives the upper or cover trays are removed from all the trays which support the eggs and thereafter the step of rotating the carriers is omitted, for at this time the chick is so far' developed that possibility of shell adhesion with the upper and lower conveyer pulleys as far apart as the height of the chamber or box permits. Also the length of the carriers and the distance between the convever cables may be of any value desired. A large unit or a large number of smaller units may be contained in the same chamber, or different cred by the radiator.

units may be separately enclosed by the walls of different chambers in which respectively different temperatures are maintained to suit the incubation stage of different settings of eggs. That is, the units may be made of various sizes and combined, assembled or separated according to the size of the establishment and the number of eggs in the different settings in the course of iiicubation.

Anew effect in ventilation is likewise secured by this invention, due partly to the preferred arrangement of the heating means and air intake, but also due in large measure to the actioiu of the travelling egg carriers. In the preferred arrangement of heating means, the radiator 11, 0!. other heating means, placed in a substantially horizontal position close to the floor oi" the incubator enclosure, and is preferably of such form and dimensions as to overlie a considerable area of the floor, whereby it extends over a part, but not all, of the after mentioned holes. In the floor beneath the radiator are holes 18 to which fresh air is conducted from out oi": doors, or the basement of the building, or from some other point external to the enclosure, through a duct 49 which is controlled by a valve or damper 50.

The eii'ect of the heater is to induce an inflow of fresh air and cause a circulation of air in the lower part of the enclosure; and the movement of the travellingegg carriers eii'ects a further circulation througl out the enclosure. The radiator extends over a part only of the holes l8; and the travel of the conveyors preferably occurs in such directions as will move the carriers upward when directly over the radiator, and downward when over the holes which are not cov- I have found that the air circulation which then takes place is of such a character that the more or less exhausted air passes outward through some of the holes 418. or through parts of the areas of more or less oi these holes, while fresh air passes in through other holes or other portions of their areas. Thus without any other openings in the incubator enclosure a nd without any other means or system for obtaining ventilation, I am able to furnish the quantity of fresh air which is essential to the development of life in the and to the health of the chicks after hatching. At the same time the air is not changed too jiii'equcnli ly, there is no constant flow of air from an inlet in, one part to an outlet in the other part of the enclosure, the amount of humidity is maintained approximately constant and at the right degree with little or no assistance from artificial humidi'l ying means, and the expense of heating is reduced int! Besides the physiological advantages explained above, the invention has the very great economic advantage of enabling a much greater number of eggs to be incubated in a given space than in the ordinary incubator. That is, virtually the entire height fromfloor to roof of the incubating chamber can be occupied by superposed trays of eggs, and the pulleys may be of such diameter that the vertical rows of carriers are relatively close together. In other words the carriers may be located so near together, both horizontally and vertically, that there is just room be tween them for the ascending ones to pass those descending and to permit their rotation without interference. Thus, most of the space in the incubating house, except that needed for the attendants to move about in, is economically utilized to contain eggs, and this Without danger of the eggs being either overheated or chilled.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. An incubating apparatus comprising an enclosure providing an incubating chamber, a pair of conveyers in parallel, each making a closed circuit between the upper and lower parts of said chamber, pivot rods carried by said conveyers, and egg carriers mounted on said pivot rods, each adapted to rotate thereon to invert its contained and having shiftable weighting means to cause it to be stably suspended from its pivot rod in either position of inversion.

2. An incubating apparatus comprising an enclosed chamber having a floor provided with openings, a radiator located close to said floor and over part of said openings, an egg carrier, and means for moving said egg carrier upward in a path. above the radiator and downward in a path over the openings which are not overlain by the radiator, between difierent levels of the chamber, whereby a flow of air in and out of said openings with ventilation of the chamber is effected.

3. An incubating apparatus comprising an enclosed chamber having openings in its floor adapted for the inflow of air, a heating radiator located near said floor and over a part only of said openings, parallel traveling conveyers extending between upper and lower levels of the chamber, and a series of egg carriers attached to said con veyers and moved thereby upward in one path and downward in a path beside the .iirst path, cooperating with the radiator to effect flow of air into the chamber through the opernngs beneath the first named path and outward through the openings beneath the second named path.

4:. An incubator comprising an enclosed chamber, a connected series of egg carriers extending in a closed circuit between upper and lower levels in the chamber, means for moving said carriers in said circuit up ward in one path and downward in a path beside the first path, said chamber having a floor with openings in it under both the before named paths through which air may pass, and heating means arranged in such proximity to the openings beneath the first named path as to induce in cooperation with the movement of said carriers, an inward air flow through the openings under the first named path and an outward flow through the openings beneath. the second named path.

5. An egg carrier for incubating apparatus of the sort described conuprising a frame, a. pivot rod passing through the axis of said frame and upon which the latter is rotatable, means for holding eggs in said frame, and a shiftable weight adapted to be attached to either of two opposite sides of the frame whereby to hold such side beneath the pivot.

6. An egg carrier for an incubating apparatus of the sort described comprising a frame having end members and connecting cross members, tray supporting ledges on the inner surfaces of said members, egg trays removably supported on and between said ledges, a cover over each of said trays adap ted to serve itself as a tray by inversion of the carrier, a horizontal pivot rod passing from said end members approximately midway between the trays, and a shiftable weight adapted to be suspended from either of two opposite sides of the carrier to hold such side beneath the pivot when the carrier is suspended by meansof the pivot.

7. An egg carrier for an incubator apparatus comprising a frame having end plates and top and bottom longitudinal bars connected to said plates, parallel tray guides attached to the inner sides of said end plates and spaced approximately equally apart from top to bottom, trays contained removably on and between said guides, the egg trays being assembled in pairs and each pair comprising an uuright and an inverted tray, each guide, except the outermost, being between two pairs Ul liiti ':s and adapted to support either pair according as the carrier is. turned with one side or the other uppermost, the said pair together enclosing a space approximately equal to the diameter ofthe eggs to be incubated, and the distance from the bottom of each upright tray to the bottom of the next upright trav above it being approximately equal to the erect height of a newly hatched chick.

8, An egg carrierfor an incubator apparatus comprising a frame having end p ates and top and bottom longitudinal bars connected to said plates, parallel tray guides attached to the inner sides of said end plates, egg trays contained removably on and between said guides, the egg trays being assembled in pairs and each pair comprising an upright and an inverted tray, the said Ill) which said trays may be passed, and having detachable screen doors or covers constructed to extend over such open sides and confine 10 the egg trays Within the carrier.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

JAMES H. LORD. 

